Students in universities around the US and globally have access to some of the most widely-used petroleum industry software thanks, in part, to donations by Petroleum Experts (Petex).
Over the years, the Edinburgh, UK-based engineering firm has donated millions of dollars worth of software licenses to petroleum engineering students learning about various ways in which to improve the efficiency of oil and gas fields.
Petex's most recent donation was to Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). Licenses to the Integrated Production Modelling (IPM) suite carry a commercial value of more than $1.7 million.
"Missouri S&T's petroleum engineering program currently uses Petex software in production engineering, completions and artificial lift courses as well as graduate research," said Dr. Shari Dunn-Norman, associate professor of petroleum engineering at Missouri S&T. "With this software gift, the full suite of programs will now enhance our capabilities in reservoir engineering and the geosciences."
Because Missouri S&T's petroleum engineering program is strongly integrated with the school's geosciences programs, the software will benefit geology and geophysics students as well as an estimated 200 petroleum engineering students. "We're very thankful to Petex for their generous donation and their support of Missouri S&T's petroleum engineering program," said Dr. Ralph E. Flori Jr., Gulf Oil Professor and Chair of geological sciences and engineering.
The benefit, as noted by Dunn-Norman, will certainly outlast the students' time at school.
"This is the leading software in nodal analysis and production optimization from wellbore to surface pipelines and it is vital that our students are experienced in using it," she said.
"These petroleum engineering software tools are the standard across the worldwide oil and gas industry and are currently used by more than 350 oil and gas companies," Dr. Hamid Guedroudj, Petex's technical director said in a statement following the donation. "By incorporating these tools in the curriculum, Missouri S&T will make sure their petroleum engineering students have access to the latest and most widely used software in the industry."
The Petex engineering models capture the physics, geology, engineering and fluid thermodynamics to model full production systems – from reservoir, the oil and gas wells, to the surface pipeline system and process. Once built, the models are used to optimize production for existing oil and gas fields and assist with the system design of new fields.
Petex has granted academic licenses to numerous universities over the years, including its May 2011 donation of to the University of Aberdeen. Other universities using the software include Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Stavanger University College, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, UAE University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Texas, West Virginia University, and more.
Mikaila Adams | Managing Editor - News
Mikaila Adams has 20 years of experience as an editor, most of which has been centered on the oil and gas industry. She enjoyed 12 years focused on the business/finance side of the industry as an editor for Oil & Gas Journal's sister publication, Oil & Gas Financial Journal (OGFJ). After OGFJ ceased publication in 2017, she joined Oil & Gas Journal and was named Managing Editor - News in 2019. She holds a degree from Texas Tech University.
